Terror victim returns favour

A Christchurch man traumatised by last year’s terror attack this week visited a Queenstown hotel to thank staff for their kindness in the aftermath.

Yama Nabi presented a handmade rug to The Rees Hotel his family are pictured with manager Mark Rose (left) and operations director Roman Lee-Lo (right).

Yama had arrived at Christchurch’s Al Noor mosque moments after a gunman shot dead 44 people, including his father.

Rose read a later Radio New Zealand report that Yama’s mental struggles had prevented him returning to work to support his family and pay his mortgage, but Accident Compensation Corporation had refused his claim for financial support because he wasn’t physically injured.

Moved by his plight, Rose and his colleagues donated him $15,200 from a fundraising dinner and online auction they’d just held.

He told Otago Daily Times: “[It’s] a good fit for the hotel as he is a halal butcher and we buy halal meat at times for our guests, and [it] seemed more personal.”

Rose said Yama had been “in tears” when he found out about the donation.